Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) shares saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 1,128,996 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 108% from the previous session’s volume of 544,005 shares.The stock last traded at $28.71 and had previously closed at $29.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Leonardo DRS from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Leonardo DRS from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 5.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.09, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.67 and a 200-day moving average of $31.49.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 6.23%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.07, for a total value of $1,533,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,004,303.59. The trade was a 16.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at $458,732.58. The trade was a 20.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 150,089 shares of company stock valued at $5,178,619 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRS. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,715,000 after purchasing an additional 2,236,661 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter worth about $24,920,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,067,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,495,000 after purchasing an additional 498,979 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 261.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 621,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,081,000 after purchasing an additional 449,642 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 71.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,995,000 after purchasing an additional 384,522 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.